[Racer X 69]

Beautiful cars!

Thank you!

[lesmore49]

Back in those days I was working for GMAC in Montréal, QC. A story went around about an unhappy customer who bought a Fuel Injected Corvette, the early mechanical injection one, and the dealer tried to talk him out of it, because he was just going to drive it to work and back in the city. The dealer apparently offered to put all the trim in line so that it would look FI, and work up the exhaust to make the right noises, but the guy wouldn't go for it. The purchaser signed a waiver that the beast was not an in town car. He was told that he had to keep the revs up over a certain level (probably never out of 1st except for occasional 2nd in traffic) and didn't. As expected, the engine blew up. Duh! some people.

Interesting story and I'm not surprised.

In the late '50's I believe both Chrysler and Pontiac also offered mechanical fuel injection on some upper end models and some driver's encountered severe difficulties as you have indicated. I recall reading somewhere that both Pontiac and Chrysler, for the many cars ended up replacing the fuel injection system with a carburetor...at no cost and then quickly discontinued the option.

Chevy kept on plugging along with the fuel injection unit which was only available on the small block Chevy V8...in both 283 and 327 versions. In 283 form you could get the fuel injection on at least the '59 Chevrolet,,,maybe the '58, but not sure for that year.

Never offered on either the big block Chevrolet engines either the W series (348,409, 427) or the Rat motor (396, 427). I think the reason Chevy persevered was because the fuel injection mechanism offered some advantages on the Corvette, probably more for road racing than as a streetable engine. There was no fuel cut off (sloshing) in tight corners as could happen in a carburetor .

Nowadays of course fuel injection...electronic...is the way to go and pretty well on every current internal combustion engine, except small engines..lawnmowers, weed whackers, etc. Fuel injection is a wonderfully well functioning fuel delivery system and every fuel injection system I've had...mostly GM and one Toyota have been flawless.

[Just1MoreDave]

I have a bunch of Z cars.

Here are two...

People with no taste are putting giant ugly fender flares on these. I guess equal parts "I am a drifter" and "easy fix for that fender well rust". An original is probably worth something.

I really like the Mercedes-Benz 280SL design (W113), built from 1963 to 1972 with a few variations in equipment and straight six displacement. But prices for a nice one are outrageous. It's easy to find prices over the cost of a new SL, base ~$90K. And your money doesn't buy speed, either - all the SLs except the old 300SL racer* are kind of slow until maybe the mid 90s.

*even pricier, north of $1 million.

[ThorSanchez]

I have a 327 from a 1956 Chevelle.

But no, you can't have it.

:devilish:

I had a lead on a January '63 block that was indistinguishable from numbers-matching. But it only came with $60k in full restoration costs from a well-known Corvette shop.

[Ratmagiclady]

My little guy from years ago. They were number two on my list of cars to want to own some day.

[Racer X 69]

People with no taste are putting giant ugly fender flares on these. I guess equal parts "I am a drifter" and "easy fix for that fender well rust". An original is probably worth something.

I have a full body in fiberglass to build a GT2 Z. Fenders, doors, hood and hatch. The steel of a Z from the belt line up is used, over a full tube frame. It looks like this:
















I think it looks awesome. The wide body enhances the lines of the Z, is much better aerodynamically and does a great job of covering the wide slicks.

[monochrome]

Had dinner with a SCCA Race Official / driving instructor client last night. His take on the early Z cars is the difficulty finding ‘original interior’ cars (the vinyl and rubber seals apparently aren’t very UV resistant). Choice seems to be big bucks for an OEM car or sketchy fit replacement parts.

[lesmore49]

I like the Datsun 240Z's lines.

Other cars up there in my personal design favourites include the 1961 Jaguar E Type coupe, the '61 Lincoln Continental 4 door, black with black interior.

The 1963 Corvette split window coupe with a 4 speed manual and the 327-360 hp fuelie V8.

All these listed are the first year versions...as years go on for a design, I've observed that gew gaws, body cladding, big safety bumpers seem to be added and detract from the original design.

Also the Jaguar XK 120 SE Coupe, in British Racing Green. The Austin-Healey 3000 is another and the 1963 Buick Riviera. The 1970 1/2 Camaro Z-28 with the RS package..small, split front bumpers.and the 1967 Mustang fast back, also the 1965 Mustang Fastback.

I looked at my post today and I can't believe I missed one of the top styled automobiles of all time and a personal favourite. The Porsche 900 series...starting with the original Porsche 911 coupe of was it...1963 ? This is a shape that has defied time...still as good looking and futuristic...in a subtle and classic manner...then as now. Porsche is still pumping out the 900 series and with good reason. It's strikingly beautiful.

[Just1MoreDave]

I have a full body in fiberglass to build a GT2 Z. Fenders, doors, hood and hatch. The steel of a Z from the belt line up is used, over a full tube frame. It looks like this:
I think it looks awesome. The wide body enhances the lines of the Z, is much better aerodynamically and does a great job of covering the wide slicks.

The flares that I really dislike are often black/not body color and with visible bolts. Pretty similar to a pickup truck accessory. I think the look must be deliberate, but it doesn't look right to me. At least your kit is a smooth line.

The original body must have conformed to Japanese width rules, where they taxed anything wider than 1.7m before 1989. So it does improve the looks just by widening, making the body a width you're used to seeing on other cars. You can shove the wheels out five inches left and right before it's as wide as a Corvette or Camaro. Depending on the racing series rules, that could be really important.

[Racer X 69]

The flares that I really dislike are often black/not body color and with visible bolts. Pretty similar to a pickup truck accessory. I think the look must be deliberate, but it doesn't look right to me. At least your kit is a smooth line.

The original body must have conformed to Japanese width rules, where they taxed anything wider than 1.7m before 1989. So it does improve the looks just by widening, making the body a width you're used to seeing on other cars. You can shove the wheels out five inches left and right before it's as wide as a Corvette or Camaro. Depending on the racing series rules, that could be really important.

They do that to cram more tire under a Z. the stock wheel size is 6.5 x 14, with a skinny tire.

I've had slicks on my race car as wide as 10", and the race tire for the production class I ran was a DOT(right) Radial, (molded at 3/32" tread depth but quickly wore mostly smooth) 205/55 14. The BFG and Goodyear 205 tires were about 8 inches wide or so. I ran mostly the Hoosier Street TD bias ply, also 205/55 14, but they had 10 inches of tread width, and the compound was sticky like slicks.

I had to roll the fender lips in the rear, and trimmed, and rolled the fronts, and took a baseball bat and rolled it between the tire and fender while we rolled the car back and forth.

With the widebody kit I should be able to get 14" of tread easily within the fenders.

The street tuner look is an acquired taste, and even then not all of them are really appealing.

I snagged this one because the stance, black and white scheme, and clean finish look better to me than some I see.





A similar one done about the same, but with fender mirrors.





This car is a street car fitted with the same bodywork I have for my race car. The owner has had the car since before the body kit. It started out as a basic Z, that someone had dropped a Chevy engine into. It has evolved, and gotten more and more extreme with each step.






One of the earlier versions....

You Tube

You Tube

[Ratmagiclady]

Had dinner with a SCCA Race Official / driving instructor client last night. His take on the early Z cars is the difficulty finding ‘original interior’ cars (the vinyl and rubber seals apparently aren’t very UV resistant). Choice seems to be big bucks for an OEM car or sketchy fit replacement parts.

I wonder if Victoria British is still around, (Yay, British rubber, in this case.) They had a Z car parts catalog when I had mine. I don't recall if I actually had to order anything from them because there was actually a Z car salvage yard nearby. But those often had better exploded diagrams of things than a storebought manual.

[Racer X 69]

I wonder if Victoria British is still around, (Yay, British rubber, in this case.) They had a Z car parts catalog when I had mine. I don't recall if I actually had to order anything from them because there was actually a Z car salvage yard nearby. But those often had better exploded diagrams of things than a storebought manual.

I had a catalog from them.

And yes, they are still around, but have dropped support of the Z.

[dngr]

My current truck, I seem to be going backwards in time haha

Want to fix the heater issue (blows ambient air) and maaaybe convert to efi as carbs in the cold are no fun

3.42 gears and an Eaton truetrac are waiting for me at home for when I get off work in a couple weeks, should be a nice change of pace from the 2.73's and open diff currently in there

[Canada_Rockies]

My current truck, I seem to be going backwards in time haha

Want to fix the heater issue (blows ambient air) and maaaybe convert to efi as carbs in the cold are no fun

3.42 gears and an Eaton truetrac are waiting for me at home for when I get off work in a couple weeks, should be a nice change of pace from the 2.73's and open diff currently in there

I like the front end of the pickup. Very tasteful; looks great (to me!)

[cooltouch]

Yep, it gives that 70s truck a very modern look. Those bumper thingies look like oversize lower canines too.